Ghana opens port for Drug Barons

In the wake of growing concerns that Ghana is being used as a transit point by drug barons to smuggle cocaine and hard drugs to other parts of the world, the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) has withdrawn its personnel at the VVIP Lounge at the Kotoka International Airport in Accra.

Currently, the only security workers left at the section for the past 21 days, our checks revealed, are national security operatives, who sources say, do not have the necessary skills to detect drug substances.

The development, according to some security experts the paper spoke to could be exploited by the barons to expand their business and reap supernormal profits at the expense of the country.

Usually, NACOB officials are supposed to spearhead the detection of drug substances in all divisions of the airport whereas other agencies take charge of other safety matters.

When the paper reached Mr. Akrasi Sarpong, Executive Secretary of NACOB on telephone, he corroborated the story but indicated that drug peddlers who would want to take advantage of the situation would be “living in a fool’s paradise.”

He explained that his outfit was satisfied with the “architectural plan” of the VVIP area and therefore, needed to consider other sections of the airport.

“It is true that we are no longer at the VVIP Lounge but our men are still on the ground at other sections of the airport. As it stands now, it is a fact that, we cannot find ourselves at everywhere at the same time so we have a timetable to be where we want to be.

… As I speak to you, NACOB is now concentrating on border communities because those areas are equally important and we need to do more in that area,” the NACOB boss stated.

Mr. Akrasi Sarpong disclosed that though there are no officials from his outfit at the lounge, there are adequate security personnel who have the wherewithal to apprehend drug peddlers.

In his opinion, a lot of attention has been given to the abandoned area and that it is about time the country gave equal attention to other potential loopholes drug users could exploit.

It would be recalled that Wikileaks, an international non-profit organisation that publishes submissions of private, secret and classified media from anonymous news sources and news leaks published that, it has evidence that some Ghanaian security chiefs and former ministers compromised their stance to some drug barons.

The publication struck wrong chords among government officials compelling President John Evans Atta Mills to come public on the issue.